2. Outline
• What is SEM?
– The basics of paid search
• How is an SEM campaign structured?
– Explanation of Campaign, Ad Groups, Keywords
• “Match Types” for keywords
– What is their purpose? How do they function?
• Best practices
– Some essentials for running a successful Paid
Search campaign
• Reporting standards
– Definition of impressions, CTR, CPC
4. Glossary
• Keyword or Term or Query: the
phrase searched by the customer
(e.g., “Six Senses Thailand”)
• SERP: The results returned by search
engine as seen by the customer
• Ad or Copy: Paid search placement
seen on a SERP
• Impressions: One placement of a
paid search ad in a SERP –
impressions limited by what
customers actually search
• Click: Customer action on ad
presented on SERP
• Click-through rate: Clicks divided
by impressions
• Bid: The amount you’re willing to pay
for a single click
• Cost-per-click: Total ad spend
divided by total clicks
• Landing page: Where you direct the
customer on your site when they click
• Conversion: Sale following a search
click
8. Match Types
• Broad match
• Phrase match
• Exact match
• Negative match
9. Broad match
– Term: “luxury hotels”
– Matches: “luxury hotels,” “hotels
luxury,” “luxury” and “hotels”
– Improves impressions
– Increases costs but frequently with
no business benefit
10. Phrase match
– Term: “luxury hotels”
– Matches: “luxury hotels,” “Chicago
luxury hotels” but not “Chicago hotels”
– Much more targeted than broad match
– Usually improves cost-per-click and
cost-per-reservation
– Reduces quantity of impressions and
may reduce clicks
11. Exact match
• Term: “luxury hotels”
• Matches: “luxury hotels” and nothing else
• Most targeted match
• Typically improves click-through rate,
cost-per-click and conversion rate
• Almost always reduces quantity of
impressions but may not impact clicks or
conversions due to improved targeting
12. Negative match
• Reduces possible matches by filtering
• Example: “Spain luxury resort
Negative:Malaga”
• Match: “Spain luxury resort” or “Jafre
Spain luxury resort” but not “Malaga
Spain luxury resort”
• Improves cost-per-click and
conversion rates
13. Best practices for keyword
selection
• Misspellings
– E.g., “Sue Saint Marie” as well as “Sault Ste.
Marie”
• Using multiple keyword combinations
– “Evason Hua Hin Resort & Six Senses Spa”
– Greatly improved click-through rate
• Core & Explore
– Build off what works
– Test generic terms for appropriateness to brand
Just to complicate matters, SEM can mean Pay-Per-Click Advertising or all activities related to search engine marketing, including PPC, local search and SEO.\nI’m going to say PPC or SEM only to mean paid search, not SEO\nTransition: So, now that you’ve seen what SEM is, let’s talk about how it works\n
Your customer is looking to meet a specific need, looking to answer a question that matters to them. \nOnce the customer has entered a term, they get a Search Engine Response Page (SERP) back.\nThe SERP can contain both natural – or organic – links and paid links, which are also called sponsored links\nThe question the customer asks is called a “query” and it consists of one or more “keywords.” For instance, a query could be as simple as “hotel” or as complex as “luxury spa resort muang district thailand”\nThe keywords selected will influence your business results dramatically\n
